Sara Anderson PR Coordinator at Clickbooth

As Clickbooth’s PR Coordinator, I’m responsible for informing the public about Clickbooth’s recent news, explaining the value of useful affiliate marketing tools and how to use them, writing press release and providing quality content for the company blog, as well as general industry-related updates.

When I’m not busy working or writing, I enjoy playing guitar and writing music, thai boxing, oil painting, and volunteering.

We were founded in 2002 by CEO John Lemp and CFO Amanda Huntington and are based in Sarasota, FL. Clickbooth has positioned itself as the industry’s Top Exclusive CPA (cost-per-action) Network, where advertisers only pay for results and publishers are rewarded with higher conversions. With industry-leading compliance, numerous exclusive offers, top campaigns in every vertical market, dedicated support available 24/7, and a network of top affiliates and advertisers; Clickbooth is focused on providing value to all our partners.

Clickbooth enthusiastically develops supportive technology programs and resources to help our advertising and affiliate partners achieve ongoing results, and we appreciate new ideas to come forward!

What was your first experience of social media?

My first experience was actually very similar to how Eric Schechter, Clickbooth’s Social Media Manager, first got started with social media. Throughout high school and college, I used social media to promote my music on YouTube, Myspace, and Dmusic.com. At the time, my agenda was focused on getting my music heard. I interacted with fans, sent friendly emails and updates, and returned the favor by providing feedback on my fans music and web pages.

I didn’t really think about the fact that I was learning the basics of branding an image, social media marketing, and the power of creating viral content that others want to talk about.

After graduating from college, I found myself looking for work in an extremely competitive job market. I began researching ways that I could set myself apart from the crowd. It was then that I really began utilizing the power of social media for business purposes. LinkedIn popped up in one of my Google job searches one day, and I decided to join this professional network. It led me to make connections with some very wonderful and influential people, who most definitely impacted my work today.

Now, I am privileged to be part of the Clickbooth PR team and use the knowledge and experience I’ve gained to help Clickbooth continue to grow.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie in social media?

Define your goals. What exactly to you want to achieve? A few examples include: improve customer support, relationship management, connect with people for a possible job, drive traffic, bring in new leads.

Focus on learning and using social media networks that will best meet your goals. That is easier said than done, because a lot of it depends on who you are personally. For example, someone who finds it hard to keep a steady blog might do much better with a microblog such as Twitter – where you can still engage your target audience but with less words that your typical blog.

Be patient. Hopping on the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Flickr, etc. bandwagon at the same time can overwhelming, frustrating, and often results in less than optimal results. Pick one tool that is fun for you and learn how to use it to help you meet your goals. Once you feel comfortable and have concise feedback from your fans/followers that you’re doing a great job, then pick up the next social media marketing tool.

Where do you see growth in the social media field?

I believe we will continue to see more social media applications integrated with objects and devices geared toward individual preferences that deliver tailored, personalized content. In other words, our networks will become even more portable.

Portable social networks: One device that potentially resembles what we will begin to see more frequently is the Arduino, an open-source electronics prototyping platform that connects objects in our lives to social media applications. According the a recent article in Mashable, “a small bakery and cafe in East London is now able to tweet what’s fresh from their oven.” Arduino device is actually configured with specific objects and is programmed to recognize when events occur.

The Intuitive Web: Technologies such as OpenID and OAuth may be glimpses of Web 3.0 and beyond; which store data about yourself (such as profile information), the type of websites you enjoy or rate highly, where you interact with others, and etc.. This is evidence the web is becoming more intuitive; better able to read who you are as an individual and thus optimizing your search results to meet your individual wants and needs.

What new ideas are companies coming up with to connect with their target audience?

Today, consumers want to interact with brands, engage in conversation, and buy things seamlessly. Interruptive, traditional advertising is costly and it distracts consumers from a rich-user experience.

Our attention spans are much shorter than they used to be…if we land on a webpage and it doesn’t load within 5 seconds, we leave. If we end up on a blog that doesn’t catch our attention within seconds, we leave. However, when a good friend posts a link for a new YouTube video, I will click it and watch through it without hesitation. Word of mouth is powerful.

Our Clickbooth Blog, managed by Eric Schechter, is a wonderful example of how we engage and interact with our publishing and advertising partners. Eric has been featured in numerous CB YouTube videos; many are extremely funny, some are geared at informing our audience about how the CPA industry works, and others are interviews with some of our top publishers. What does this show? We are human, we care, we listen, and we would love to hear what you have to say.

A few more examples – JetBlue engages in real conversations with their customers on Twitter. Hope Depot uses Twitter to update followers on new home improvement products. Comcast uses Twitter for customer service purposes.

What do you do to improve the world?

I love volunteering with teenagers. I remember what a difficult age that was and it is just such an amazing feeling to provide leadership and hope for those dealing with low self-esteem.

Recently, I helped to promote and gain exposure for “Stop Hunger Now.” Along with another 140 volunteers, we packaged bags filled with protein-rich meals that were distributed to over 21,000 people locally and internationally. This event was sponsored by Rotary International.

I recycle and try to avoid plastics. After learning about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, I was disturbed by it. A plastic island literally exists in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

In other things that are green – I have attempted to garden; but I can’t say that my “green” thumb is a big success.

I am really here to help others 🙂 I do appreciate the question! One thing I suppose – I’m definitely interested in checking out any blogs regarding social media, affiliate marketing, or the latest technologies.